The loss of this money prompts the leader of the cartel, Ernesto Escobedo, to regret the assassination of the yacht’s owner he had in fact ordered. The FBI seizes the funds from several American banks.

Ryan’s investigation leads to the discovery that Hardin was involved with a money laundering scheme for the cartels. Jack Ryan, acting CIA Deputy Director for Intelligence, is called upon by the president to investigate Hardin's murder. The Coast Guardsmen pretend to hold a drum trial and sentence the men to execution in order to get a confession. In the Caribbean, a Coast Guard vessel comes across a yacht on which two men are clearly cleaning up after having murdered the yacht’s owner, a businessman named Hardin, and his family. They will then use F-15 jets to intercept cartel smuggling flights. The operation centers on a team of light infantry troops with Hispanic backgrounds and language skills, who will be sent into Colombia to secure airstrips used by the cartel, using advanced surveillance technology to listen in on cartel communications. CIA Deputy Directors Robert Ritter and Arthur Moore are recruited to assist with the logistics of the plan. National Security Adviser James Cutter sees an opportunity to pursue a private goal, and convinces the president to declare that the illegal drug trade is a 'clear and present danger’ to national security, and authorize a secret effort to destabilize Colombian Cartel operations. As a result, he seeks a dramatic cause to champion in order to drum up support and votes.

The President is embroiled in a tense re-election campaign against opponent J. The story begins with a detailed description of the Oval Office and Situation Room in the White House, just before a meeting between the President of the United States and his advisers. The sequel to Clancy’s previous novel, The Cardinal of the Kremlin, the novel features recurring character Jack Ryan, and Clancy’s trademark accuracy and realism when it comes to military hardware, tactics, and realpolitik.

Clear and Present Danger is a novel by Tom Clancy, published in 1989.

Clancy clear and present danger